MotorWeek Over the Edge: King Midget

demands for better fuel economy are forcing automakers and consumers to once again consider small cars but it was in 1946 when a true miniature car was born the King nothing is as small and street-legal as the king of all the minis and for 65 years fans and drivers have been captivated by the king and there's no better way to celebrate the car and the de king danbury and the home of Ringling Brothers Circus Delavan Wisconsin built by two World War two veterans Claude rum and Dale Orcutt the King was a marvel of its time and while it might look like a clown car the story of its existence is anything but fun the king was once the world's lowest priced car at around $500 still only 5000 were built at the plant in Athens Ohio the King was American entrepreneurship at its best the two gear was assembled on a shoestring budget dry and orkut made their money selling used parts in the back of magazines Bob Bob Hope's is an expert when it comes to the king Mitch it's his passion making sure the memories of or cut-and-dry stay alive you know we call ourselves a car club but we're not a car club we're a people club and that's true the people who own these cars have have become friends we all share this interest and they're just a great bunch of people with only about 1,000 King midgets still around the king Jamboree brings newcomers to marvel at the car Tim Smyth and his wife sandy where the host of this year's Jamboree Tim had the honor of leaving the pack of King owners in and around the town of Delevan and Lake Geneva his love of the king started as a kid my dad took it in on trade in 1964 it was in the local area the guy bought it from king in 1960 and he was only going to keep it a couple months and but he made the mistake of bringing it home this car is a true family affair Nicholas Bart were married into the King brood and now his king has become one of his most prized possessions my wife Kimberly her her dad has a king and he's here today with us and her grandfather also has a king and sparked my interest and so I started looking on the internet only nine horsepower and maybe 35 or 40 miles an hour tops and these things but when you own one it really doesn't matter how fast you go Motors built three different versions of the car the first a single passenger models two and three have room for two it's rare to find any model ones left so scottoline built a near exact replica and not every is stock and original inside some have modified engines as well Jack Bielefeld took his one cylinder Wisconsin out and replaced it with a kawasaki ninja 250 motorcycle engine it just runs sweet can't hurt Aidan I had to get away from the comic clutches the automatic to speech system in there because you can't keep up right it's swell noisy and this is like a million-dollar engine and a 50 cent car American built and owned the King is America's smallest dream car come true you

Channel: MotorWeek

Views: 54,804

Rating: 4.9342103 out of 5

Keywords: Pickup Trucks, Exotic, Speed, Hybrid, Fast, Review, PHEV, SUV, MPG, Fuel, EV, Utilities, Cars, Automotive, Track, Trucks, CUVs, KING, SUVs, MotorWeek, PBS, CUV, Fuel Economy, Gasoline, Car, Pickups, Electric Vehicle, MIDGET, Road Test, Clean, Diesel, Consumer

Id: i6ndZE1fLq0

Length: 3min 44sec (224 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 18 2010